Thursday August 18, 2005

Thursday August 18, 2005 Before I got to Zack’s room this morning I ran into Dr. Miller in the hall. He told me that Zack was talking to him a lot more. He said that Zack was calmer this morning because yesterday he had to chase him around the room to evaluate him. Dr. Miller was rounding at a pediatric office and met Liz Curtis Higgs son who asked him if he knew Zack. It seems like everyone knows about him now. When I walk into his room he is lying in bed but he is dressed. He likes chilling out in his bed. He is laughing at what his nurse Dana is talking about. He sees me and when I reach down to hug him he says, “ I’ve been waiting to hug you sweetie”. He eats all his lunch. I brought pictures of Dylan, Kyle and Logan in and showed them to Zack to see if he knew who they were. He knew Dylan and Kyle but said Logan was his Mom. I told him to stop teasing me because he knew Logan wasn’t his Mom and he said, “I wouldn’t be tease you if we weren’t sitting here”. He said he thinks all these questions are silly. Dr. Mook came in and told us our Family Meeting is set up for next Wednesday at 1:00 P.M. This is a required meeting for all who will care for Zack and his team of doctors. They will discuss what we can expect over the next month and their plans for Zack. He said something about Nicole (one of the girls in the accident) and said he wanted to see her. 9:00 speech in the room with Kathy and he is so talkative. He said “good morning” and when asked the name of this place he answered, “one ugly bed”. He sure spends a lot of time in it to think it was ugly. He kept looking at the clock and wanting to know when he would leave for P.T./O.T. They played hide and seek with the pictures of Kyle and Logan. They waited a long time and he remembered where they hid them. Kathy is very excited. Zack smiled and told her he had a dream last night (he couldn’t tell us what it was about). Then she asked him to count and he counted in Spanish!!!! He said “WoW. She said my name is Kathy in Spanish and he answered in Spanish. How cool is that! He said the months very clearly and knew the year was 2005. When it was time to leave he hugged Kathy and said thank you and goodbye. He lay down and said, “That was fun”. He is a total delight this morning. 10:00 P.T./O.T. they give him tiny pegs and he has to put them in tiny holes. He did not want to use his right hand and was very unhappy about it. He acknowledged that his eyes were blurry. Mary Beth (O.T.) thinks he may be having some vision problems. He passed a ball between his legs but when they tried to get him to pass it behind his back he just turned in a circle. They decided to work on his right arm mobility on the mat. They were stretching his shoulder, ribs and back. It hurt and he cried. They had him do 10 knee pushups. They started using weighted balls and had him hold them out in from of him for 15 seconds. They did various extensions of that to strengthen the supporting muscles around the arms, rib cage and spine. They put him a weight lifting bar together and had him lift his arms over his head. He cried out loudly but was determined to do it 10 times. It was very hard but he did it. Then he wanted to know how much weight he was lifting (7 lbs.). It was a good morning in the gym and he was proud of himself. Back in his room he couldn’t wait to get his shoes off and lay dawn. Lunch arrives and it is time for him to get up. He did much better but didn’t finish everything. He got up and said he was full and didn’t want any more. He got back in bed to relax some more and when it was time to go to speech he didn’t want to get up. We had to call Dana to help us because he really didn’t want to go. I think he would just lie in bed all day if we let him (sound familiar to all those parents of teenagers). In speech Kathy had him playing UNO the card game. He correctly played the first card. They played several hands before Zack got tired of it. Then Kathy got out some money. He correctly identified the dime and knew it was worth 10 and a nickel was 5. Might have to bring poker chips in for him to mess with. P.T./O.T. in the gym with Kathy and Mary Beth. They had him put supplies in a file cabinet and stack boxes on shelves. He shots some baskets and did a puzzle forcing him to use his right hand. He did the entire puzzle with that hand. Back to the room and back to bed. He took a good nap and finally got up when dinner came. He finished everything so now I am going to pay more attention on what meals he struggles with finishing. Dana (day nurse) said that he does not have to eat 100% of each meal (they give him more than I could eat). Visitors started to arrive and we decide to go for a ride in his chair. Walking through Jewish Hospital we run into Nicole and her Dad and then Averi and her Mom. After our walk we go back up to the room and Zack gets back in bed. He seems tired and plus he really likes his bed. He is working his way through several stages and some of then have specific challenges. Right now Zack seems to want to pull his pants down. We have to be careful and watch him now around visitors until we get to the next hurdle. He goes back and forth to the bed all evening. I finally request his shower thinking that night relax him enough to stay. After he gets settled in bed I ask him if we can pray. He closes his eyes and I say the 23 Psalm, When I am finish I ask him to say it with me. He remembers and recites every other sentence (I say one, he says the one that follows). I tell him he will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He starts to cry and asks “what if Jesus leaves me:” I explain that Jesus will never leave him and not to be afraid. That seems to calm him down. He always closes his eyes when he prays and is quiet. He is now sleeping peacefully I can’t help wondering what he dreamed about. I hope it is of green pastures and quiet waters. Please pray that Zack will feel the loving arms of Jesus around him tonight and will not be afraid. Take time to pray for your own teenagers, friends and family members that God will gently discipline them in their disobedience. Pray for his continued recovery.